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ArabicHonkai Star Rail: My Chat Group is Full of Broken Timelines — Chapter 48
Chapter 49: Life and Death on the Line
Faced with an Antimatter Legion force capable of swallowing their entire formation, the “Winged Flame” Merchant Group finally shed its benign disguise. For the first time, the supposed merchant caravan bared its fangs.
Across the fleet, the muzzles of hidden cannons slid into view, charging in unison. Streams of deep blue energy coiled within their barrels, writhing like a nest of vipers poised to strike.
Kazuki stood on the starship’s observation deck, his fingers gripping the cool metal of the railing so tightly his knuckles were white. The universe beyond the viewport remained a vast, pitch-black canvas, its silence broken only by the incessant flashing of red dots on the tactical screen—a stark reminder of the enemy’s inexorable approach.
Suddenly, a piercing beam of white light tore through the darkness. The flagship’s main cannon had fired first, its energy blast trailing a long tail of incandescent particles as it carved a scorching trajectory through the void.
Seconds later, a blinding flare erupted on the observation screen. The vanguard of the Antimatter Legion had been hit. But before anyone could draw a breath of relief, a fresh tide of red dots surged from the epicenter of the blast, pouncing toward the fleet with renewed ferocity.
“Fire! All main cannons, fire at will!” The commander’s roar echoed from the bridge, crackling through the ship-wide communicators.
In the next instant, the entire fleet erupted like a chain of volcanoes. Hundreds of energy beams sliced through the night sky at once. Some were precise, rapier-like thrusts of light; others burst like brilliant fireworks, their explosive energy weaving a searing net of destruction across the cosmos.
The fiery lattice tore gaping holes in the swarms of Antimatter Legion Voidrangers, but the gaps were filled almost as quickly as they appeared. The creatures shrieked, a soundless cry in the vacuum, as they lunged at the starships’ shields, their impacts creating dazzling coronas of sparks.
Kazuki had never witnessed such a “brilliant” spectacle. The stark white of energy beams, the fiery orange of explosions, and the sickly purple glow of annihilating Voidrangers intertwined against the black backdrop of space, painting a stunning mural of death.
The starships’ shields flickered violently under the constant barrage, emitting a high-pitched crackle of stressed energy, as if they might shatter at any moment.
“Port shields are down to three percent! Requesting energy reroute, now!” a frantic voice screamed over the comms.
“Starship Three has lost its primary engine! We’re losing altitude, we’re falling out of formation!”
“There are too many of them! The Voidrangers are everywhere! We can’t hold the line!”
The communication channel was a cacophony of wails and desperate pleas, each word a heavy hammer blow against the heart. Kazuki’s grip tightened on the formation blade at his hip. ‘So this is what cosmic warfare is like,’he thought, a cold dread seeping into his bones.’It’s so cruel it’s suffocating.’
Just then, five massive shadows detached themselves from the swirling swarm of Voidrangers. Their bodies were encased in dark purple carapaces, and their heads were twisted into the grotesque likeness of dragons. They were the aces of the Antimatter Legion—Doomsday Beasts.
“It’s the Doomsday Beasts! Five of them!” A sharp, collective intake of breath hissed from the command room speakers.
The moment they appeared, the five gargantuan beasts unfurled their wings, spraying forth countless beams of anti-energy. One of the merchant ships failed to evade in time. Its shields were torn apart in an instant. The hull, now exposed, looked like a loaf of bread that had a massive bite taken out of it before it erupted into a silent, blossoming fireball of fragments.
“Concentrate fire on the engines at their front! That’s their weak point!” Tingyun’s voice cut through the panic, carrying an unquestionable, grounding calm.
The fleet swiftly adjusted its formation, focusing the entirety of its firepower on the Doomsday Beasts. A torrential rain of energy beams hammered against the giant beasts’ carapaces, splashing brilliant sparks across their armored hides. The forward limb joint of one Doomsday Beast was struck repeatedly; it let out a shrill, silent roar and staggered, its massive form dropping to one knee.
Seeing their comrade falter, the remaining four charged with even greater frenzy, instantly throwing the fleet’s defensive formation into disarray.
A surge of cold fury washed over Kazuki. He watched as the flagship’s main cannon charged once more. An energy beam, several times thicker than any before, shot through the void and struck the anti-matter engine of the kneeling Doomsday Beast with pinpoint accuracy.
Boom—
A colossal explosion bloomed in the silent vacuum. The Doomsday Beast was blown to pieces, its massive body losing all cohesion as it slowly tumbled into the bottomless depths of space.
“Well done!” A brief, ragged cheer erupted on the deck.
With the first one down, the fleet’s morale soared. Gritting their teeth, the crews concentrated their fire, determined to take the beasts down one by one. The second Doomsday Beast was swarmed by several starships, its carapace blasted to smithereens. The third was struck in its engine by a flanking starship’s cannons and, losing control, crashed into a nearby asteroid belt. The fourth, then the fifth… when the last Doomsday Beast turned to ash in a series of chain explosions, a long-suppressed cheer finally echoed through the command rooms of the fleet.
But the joy was tragically short-lived.
On the main screen, a new figure slowly emerged from the darkness, a figure that was ten times larger than any Doomsday Beast. Its entire body was covered in metallic scales, and six pairs of membranous wings extended from its back, each languid flap creating visible ripples of energy in the space around it.
When the fleet’s renewed barrage of fire landed on it, the shots merely stirred faint, shimmering ripples of light across its hide, failing to leave so much as a scratch.
“It’s… a Calamity Vanguard…” someone whispered the name, their voice trembling with awe and terror.
The gargantuan entity ignored the sky full of cannon fire, advancing steadily toward the center of the fleet. With every step it took through the void, the surrounding starships shook violently, as if being crushed by an invisible, giant force. The main cannons that could pierce a Doomsday Beast’s armor just moments ago now felt like a child’s toy against this new foe.
“This isn’t going to work!” Kazuki suddenly turned and rushed toward the command room entrance. “Sister Tingyun, I’ll go deal with it!”
Tingyun grabbed his arm, her eyes filled with worry. “Little Kazuki, you…”
“Trust me.” Kazuki gently pulled his arm from her grasp, his gaze firm and resolute. “Any later and it’ll be too late for all of us.”
Without another word, he leaped from the starship’s open bay, the Stone Fire Dream Body in his hand bursting with a brilliant golden light as he soared into the void.
As he approached the Calamity Vanguard, a suffocating pressure washed over him. The monster was simply too massive. If a Doomsday Beast was a mountain, this thing was a moving continent. In front of it, Kazuki was less than an ant.
‘However,’he thought, a grim smile touching his lips,’if we’re comparing size… I have something bigger!’
Kazuki took a deep breath and completely unleashed the power of Jing Yuan stored within the Stone Fire Dream Body.
In a blinding flash, a pillar of pure gold light erupted from his position, soaring into the void. It coalesced into a figure that dwarfed even the Calamity Vanguard—a divine warrior manifesting from raw energy. Clad in resplendent golden armor and wielding a colossal glaive, its presence was as majestic and as inescapable as a celestial prison. It was the Lightning-Lord, the avatar of a Xianzhou General’s might.
“Truly, a Chekhov’s gun…” Kazuki remarked to the emptiness of space. “If only I didn’t have to use this kind of power.”
“It’s the Lightning-Lord!” A heaven-shaking cheer erupted from the fleet below. “General Jing Yuan’s power! We’re saved!”
Kazuki hovered on the shoulder of the Might-Spirit, feeling the surging, immense power coursing through him. Yet, there wasn’t a hint of joy in his heart. He knew very well that this was borrowed power, an ultimate attack capable of only a single strike.
‘Only one strike… and it’s the strike of an Emanator. After this, the Calamity Vanguard will surely die, but… as for whether we can survive in the end… I can only pray Phantylia doesn’t decide to show up.’
Beneath the gaze of the massive golden warrior, Kazuki poured every ounce of his own power, along with all the energy from the Path he had accumulated since he began his journey, into the giant golden entity.
He had to gamble everything on this single attack.
Kazuki raised his hand, pointing toward the Calamity Vanguard. “Might-Spirit, heed my word. Show no mercy!”
The golden Might-Spirit moved in perfect sync, its giant blade carving a brilliant arc through the void. The sheer force of the swing whipped up vortexes of raw energy in its wake.
The Calamity Vanguard seemed to sense the mortal danger. Its six pairs of membranous wings flapped in unison as dark purple energy condensed into a shield before it.
But it was all in vain.
The giant golden blade sliced through the energy shield as if it were butter, cleaving instantly into the Calamity Vanguard’s body. There was no devastating explosion, only a dull, sickening tearing sound. The massive body was split cleanly in two from head to tail. A huge amount of antimatter gushed from the wound, only to vanish into nothingness a moment later.
Seeing the Calamity Vanguard slain so easily, Kazuki didn’t dare to relax, even though they had ostensibly won. After all, with Phantylia’s warped sense of humor, she seemed exactly the type to pop up right when everyone had started their victory celebration.
“We won!” The cheers from the starships were loud enough to threaten the integrity of their hulls.
Kazuki, however, remained suspended in the void, not daring to let his guard down for a single moment. He stared fixedly into the darkness, the hand holding his formation blade trembling slightly.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the golden Might-Spirit’s light began to dim, eventually dissipating into motes of golden light. The Stone Fire Dream Body also lost its divine empowerment, reverting to an ordinary, if finely crafted, blade.
Just then, a lazy female voice drifted from the void, carrying a tone of undisguised mockery. “Well now, I certainly didn’t expect to see the power of a Xianzhou General out here… A pity… that seems to be all you had.”
Kazuki spun around abruptly. Not far away, a woman in a flowing purple gown slowly materialized from the void. She was barefoot, wreathed in an aura of dark purple energy. It was the Lord Ravager, Phantylia.
“You can’t call it again, can you?” Phantylia chuckled, a low, musical sound that held no warmth. She flicked a single, elegant finger. “So, tell me. How will you handle my second wave of attacks?”
As she finished speaking, countless points of light suddenly ignited in the previously empty universe.
They were warp signals from the Antimatter Legion. Countless Voidrangers, Doomsday Beasts, and even several new Calamity Vanguards crossed the star systems in an instant, completely surrounding the entire fleet.
Kazuki’s heart plummeted. Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned and flew back toward his starship at top speed. Without Jing Yuan’s power, he couldn’t even stand against a single Calamity Vanguard, let alone face Phantylia herself.
“Running away?” Phantylia watched his desperate retreat, a flash of disdain in her eyes. “I thought the people of the Xianzhou were so unyielding. It turns out he’s just another pampered scion who’s useless once his one trick is exhausted.”
She waved her hand, her tone filled with a cruel, delighted sadism. “Don’t kill them all at once. Let the low-level Voidrangers commence boarding operations. Let’s play with them… slowly.”
The moment the order was given, countless Voidrangers swarmed toward the starships’ hatches like a monstrous tide.
As for the high-level units, like the newly arrived Calamity Vanguards, they simply hung back, forming a cage around the fleet without attacking.
Phantylia had always found that toying with her prey’s minds, watching their hope curdle into despair, was far more satisfying than simply erasing them from existence.